Game 2010.098: Tigers at Rays

My sincerest thanks to billfer for entrusting me with the task of guarding the island.

Our Tigers take their 16-29 road record and one game win streak to the Trop. Scherzer has been brilliant in July thus far posting a 3-1 record with a 2.00 ERA and 25 Ks in 27 IP. Upon further inspection, did you know that Scherzer has 100 Ks in 105.2 IPs?

We all know that Valverde will be unavailable, so let’s get to Garza early and often. Tigers have had some success against Tampa as of late, going 8-3 since September of ’08, and are 10-4 overall versus the East this year.

The Mendozas have spawned another bro, and all 5 of them are in the lineup tonight. Which brings to mind a quiz: which Tiger in tonight’s lineup is hitting .227 with runners on (any situation) and .203 with RISP?

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 7:42 pm

Hint: it isn’t Cabrera, who is at .353 and .366 respectively

ouchudied

July 26, 2010 at 7:48 pm

Cool roll, Zobrist. Catch sure would have been lame without it…

ouchudied

July 26, 2010 at 7:54 pm

Scherzer got squeezed on that full count pitch to Upton

ouchudied

July 26, 2010 at 7:59 pm

And to make it worse they call Upton safe on that throw. What a joke.

Amanda

July 26, 2010 at 7:57 pm

WoW! Another Sucky Call!

Linda

July 26, 2010 at 7:59 pm

Can’t help but think Leyland is telling the umps how sick to death he is of their crappy calls against the Tigers. I know I am.

Mark@HOU

July 26, 2010 at 8:00 pm

We have to get 5 outs this inning.

Mark in Chicago

July 26, 2010 at 8:02 pm

boy, that was some pretty terrible umpiring.

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 8:06 pm

That play there with Garza is what Porcello needs to work on.

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 8:08 pm

Goodness gracious, we need some hits.

ouchudied

July 26, 2010 at 8:15 pm

4 innings of baseball and no hits for either team

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 8:25 pm

Does anyone know what the pitch count is for either pitcher?

Keith (Mr. X)

July 26, 2010 at 8:35 pm

After 5 innings, 68 pitches for Garza and 72 for Scherzer.

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 8:38 pm

73-46 for Scherzer, 68-45 for Garza.

jason

July 26, 2010 at 8:44 pm

i cant believe they are cutting away from a double no-hitter for a steroid-laced milestone.

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 8:53 pm

The Tigers’ broadcast isn’t doing that. Thank goodness.

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 8:44 pm

Twins put up a 6-spot vs. Greinke in the first inning.

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 8:53 pm

Click is not having a very good night behind the dish tonight.

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 8:53 pm

Oh, man, Scherzer needs to only think about getting this guy out.

jason

July 26, 2010 at 9:03 pm

ugh. beaten by the former tiger

ouchudied

July 26, 2010 at 9:03 pm

Don’t mean to be the black cloud around here, but…

ballgame.

Amanda

July 26, 2010 at 9:04 pm

OMG Matt Joyce!

Randolph

July 26, 2010 at 9:05 pm

And with one pitch, things turn change in a heartbeat. Very disappointing.

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 9:06 pm

Matt Joyce, ex-Tiger, breaks up the no-hitter with a grand slam.

Coleman

July 26, 2010 at 9:09 pm

If only we hadn’t traded Joyce this wouldn’t have happened! The Max would’ve–oh wait, if we hadn’t traded Joyce we wouldn’t have Max…hmmm, this is getting too complicated.

Amanda

July 26, 2010 at 9:10 pm

Despite the Grand Slam.. I’ll still take Max over Matt..lol

Randolph

July 26, 2010 at 9:17 pm

I DON’T BELIEVE IN THE JINX!

JINX JINX JINX

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 9:18 pm

By the way, the answer to my earlier quiz is ……… envelope please ……………Johnny Damon.

Although Mr. Mohawk is hitting .320 with the bases empty.

stephen

July 26, 2010 at 9:22 pm

Re: Sixth inning
Ron Burgundy: Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
Champ Kind: It jumped up a notch.
Ron Burgundy: It did, didn’t it?
Brick Tamland: Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart.
Ron Burgundy: I saw that. Brick killed a guy. Did you throw a trident?
Brick Tamland: Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.
Ron Burgundy: Brick, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safehouse or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you’re probably wanted for murder.

Coleman

July 26, 2010 at 9:31 pm

Raburn is hitting .224 with RISP, and about .208 overall. In other words, Raburn: clutch.

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 9:39 pm

He’s just not comfortable in the 6-slot. Now that Damon is batting third, Leyland needs to move him back up to No. 2 where he belongs.

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 9:32 pm

Congatulations, Billfer. That’s when it started. Billfer’s belief that losing Matt Joyce was a wrong decision. And now, here’s his justice. A Grand Slam. It just had to be Matt Joyce.

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 9:34 pm

Truly, this is a memorable game. We are probably going to lose, but it has been a great game to watch.

Check out our current OPS+ ratings. Right now the roster has 4 hitters above average (100). Of the other 9 players, only Santiago (!) approaches respectability at 84. The rest aren’t even close. We have a really bad bench. Unfortunately it is also really big. Too many gaping holes to fix IMO.

Right now, we all feel awful about the team. We may have to live with this until the ’11 season.

Randolph

July 26, 2010 at 10:04 pm

At this point I’m really looking forward to the 2011 season and the coming off-season moves. It’s obvious there are too many holes to fill and injuries to patch up this year and it’s time for D.D. to look towards next year and make adjustments for that seaon. (But you never know, maybe I’ll come eating crow come October 3rd)

kathy

July 26, 2010 at 9:51 pm

I feel happy for them. They deserved the win, simple as that.

Mcb

July 26, 2010 at 9:56 pm

Might not be the last time this season we get no hit

billfer

July 26, 2010 at 10:01 pm

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and smile. Sometimes you blame Kevin

Vince in MN

July 26, 2010 at 10:27 pm

Billfer posted, and he’s smiling! You can see it right there in his picture.

David

July 26, 2010 at 11:03 pm

I think this is a sign from above. The baseball gods dodn’t like you slipping away into retirement…

Mark@HOU

July 26, 2010 at 10:19 pm

This has to be Kevin’s fault. No way this is a coincidence.

Mark in Chicago

July 26, 2010 at 11:21 pm

no doubt. a pox on your very soul, Kevin!

T Smith

July 26, 2010 at 11:31 pm

This isn’t Kevin’s fault. So A-Jax and Cabrera have an off night? The rest of the lineup has been getting no-hit regularly.

Kevin in Dallas

July 26, 2010 at 11:39 pm

I’ve gotta admit, my first attempt at the post managed to shut down the site for about 4 min. I was petrified. If anyone logged in around 4:50pm central they saw it…

After a few minutes I got it worked out, but I can only guess that Ol’ Smokey logged in per usual to check the time of tonight’s game and get some lineup advice, saw the error, and suffered a brief lapse in judgment which caused him to bat 4 guys with a combined OPS south of 1.

We’ll all be back out there tomorrow. It’s a blessed curse like that.

Latest Comments

jud I know it was only an exhibition game ...but...I don't know if I can take that much hysterical laughter from

Coleman http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12413132&categoryid=2521705
On the other hand, Verlander is "confident" and "ready to go," so there's that.

Smoking Loon Good article, Kevin.
Did anyone else have the thought last year that perhaps the biggest problem with Verlander was... predictability? He

Kevin in Dallas Neither does this story.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/02/detroit_tigers_bring_back_righ_1.html

Kevin in Dallas This picture does not instill a whole bunch of confidence.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/#/0

Coleman Check out this one: http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/02/report_relief_pitcher_joba_cha.html#incart_more_sports
He shaved the beard! And looks like he dropped a few pounds too.

StorminNorman$ http://m.tigers.mlb.com/news/article/110232762/joba-chamberlain-signs-with-detroit-tigers
low price, potential high yield... or maybe not. Whatever the case, Joba certainly said all the right things.

Jim EggersUSMC I concur K in D, am hoping for a good but not great season from JV. Seemed to me he

StorminNorman$ Great info/research Kevin! One point to clarify and factor into the analysis: JV did make $20M last year, but

Coleman Verlander had core muscle surgery last January. Could it be, at his age, and with the type of pitcher he